Methods and Systems for Transmitting Digital Images

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems for communicating a recipient-selected customization of a digital image using an index file. The index file associates a customization characteristic with the segments of the digital image required to construct a customized image that exhibits the customization characteristic.

RELATED REFERENCES

This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/709,985, entitled “Methods and Systems for TransmittingDigital Images,” filed on Nov. 10, 2000. U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/709,985 is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and systems formanaging and transmitting image data.

BACKGROUND

In many Internet and network applications, large image files arefrequently transferred. These large image files must be transmitted fromserver to client with accuracy and speed. When connection speeds are notoptimal, these images can take an inconveniently long time to downloadto a client. Using known methods, this extended lag results in highlatency or delay before display of the complete image.

Image files can also be problematic when their size, resolution or otherattributes are not optimized to the needs of the user.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems thatallow customized transmission of image files over a network. Embodimentsof the present invention provide for scalable image resolution, qualityscalability including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) scalability,region-of-interest (ROI) selection and other features.

Embodiments of the present invention may also comprise image index fileswhich may be accessed from a client application that allows for imagecustomization prior to complete image transmission. Using the clientapplication and an index file associated with the target image, a usermay select an optimal resolution at which the image may be transmitted.When images are large and/or high resolution, latency occurs as the fileis transmitted to the client. Users who do not need to see the image atits highest resolution may select a lower resolution at which to viewthe image thereby decreasing latency and speeding the process.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a user may select qualityscalability thereby allowing a client application to begin rendering animage before the image is fully transmitted. This may be performed byrendering an image coarsely and reducing the coarseness of the imageprogressively as data is received.

Some embodiments of the present invention may allow forregion-of-interest (ROI) scalability wherein a user may select aregion-of-interest that may be transmitted alone or given priority inthe image transmission process. A user may select a ROI to be viewed andan embodiment of the present invention may transmit only that area tothe user thereby decreasing latency. Alternatively, a user may select aROI and another embodiment of the present invention will select that ROIarea for priority transmission to be followed by transmission of theremainder of the image. In this manner, a ROI may be viewed more quicklyand, if desired, another portion or the remainder of the image may beviewed after inspection of the ROI.

In some embodiments, the above described features and/or other featuresmay be implemented using a client application which downloads the targetimage at a reduced resolution and displays that image as a “thumbnail”for user manipulation, reference and input such as ROI selection andother selection. Once the thumbnail has been downloaded and displayed, auser may select a portion of the image for display at a resolutionhigher than that of the thumbnail. A user may select a ROI on thethumbnail or on a higher-resolution image using known input devicemethods or by other methods. Generally, a rectangular region will bedelineated by a series of inputs, such as mouse clicks, and the clientapplication will request the portion of the image corresponding to thedesignated region of interest. In this manner, a portion of the imagemay be displayed without waiting for display of the entire image.

Some embodiments of a client application may provide for selection ofimage resolution. Typically, for large, high-resolution images, therewill be a range of resolutions between the maximum image resolution anda minimum thumbnail resolution. These embodiments will allow a user toselect an optimum resolution below the maximum image resolution whichwill reduce latency.

A client application of embodiments of the present invention may alsoallow a user to select whether quality scalability is enabled. Whenenabled, quality scalability can render relevant image details prior tocomplete image transmission thereby allowing a user to make imagedecisions prior to complete transmission of the image. Qualityscalability may be applied to the thumbnail used for ROI selection aswell as the target image.

The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of theinvention will be more readily understood upon consideration of thefollowing detailed description of the invention taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL DRAWINGS

In order that the manner in which the above-recited and other advantagesand objects of the invention are obtained, a more particular descriptionof the invention briefly described above will be rendered by referenceto specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appendeddrawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typicalembodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered tobe limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explainedwith additional specificity and detail through the use of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing various hardware and software elements of anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a chart showing various steps of an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing elements of an exemplary image filestructure;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an exemplary tile-part bitstream whichemploys a layer-resolution-component progressive order;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an exemplary tile-part bitstream whichemploys a resolution-layer-component progressive order;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a method of mapping from the wavelet domainto the spatial domain;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing partition of the spatial image forcode-blocks in a particular subband;

FIG. 8 displays an exemplary embodiment of a client image application;

FIG. 9 displays the application shown in FIG. 8 with an image shown inthe window;

FIG. 10 displays the application of FIGS. 8 and 9 with ahigher-resolution image shown in the window; and

FIG. 11 displays the application of FIGS. 8-10 with an image shown inthe window that has been edited using region-of-interest selection.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be best understood byreference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by likenumerals throughout. The figures listed above are expressly incorporatedas part of this detailed description.

It will be readily understood that the components of the presentinvention, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein,could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of differentconfigurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of theembodiments of the methods and systems of the present invention is notintended to limit the scope of the invention but it is merelyrepresentative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention.

Elements of embodiments of the present invention may be embodied inhardware, firmware and/or software. While exemplary embodiments revealedherein may only describe one of these forms, it is to be understood thatone skilled in the art would be able to effectuate these elements in anyof these forms while resting within the scope of the present invention.

Some embodiments of the present invention are explained in reference toa specific embodiment which employs an HTTP protocol for streamingimages in the JPEG2000 format. While this is used as a primary example,other protocols and image formats may be used in embodiments of thepresent invention.

Protocol

Some embodiments of the present invention may be explained in referenceto FIG. 1 wherein a web server 2 hosts a web page 4 comprising thumbnailimages 6 in an electronic image format such as JPEG, GIF, JPEG2000 oranother format. Web page 4 may also comprise names of images 8, such asa URL, hyperlink or similar mechanism. Other embodiments may compriseimage file lists, directories, indexes or other methods of imageorganization rather than a typical web page. As used in this context, aweb page 4 may comprise traditional HTML web pages, XML pages, or pagesor sites created with other languages, protocols and configurations forPCs, handheld devices, web-enabled cell phones, pagers and othercomputing devices.

Each thumbnail image 6 or name 8 is linked to an index file 10. An indexfile 10 may have an extension which may be recognized as a MIME type bythe client's web browser or be otherwise recognized as a unique filetype by a browser application. Each index file may also be associatedwith a client image application 12 of embodiments of the presentinvention. This client image application 12 can provide for streamingand display of image files. A client image application 12 may take theform of a browser plug-in or browser helper program or may beimplemented as a program working in conjunction with other applicationsor a stand-alone program. In some embodiments, client image application12 comprises a JPEG2000 enabled client browser which can handlestreaming and display of JPEG2000 images.

The index file 10 comprises information which helps the client imageapplication 12 to determine which portions of the bitstream arenecessary to render an image selection. The client image application 12creates its file transfer requests, such as HTTP requests, usinginformation in the index files 10. An index file 10 may be created priorto image access by the client device 14 using an indexing application(not shown) which may create an index file 10 through analysis of atarget image file. An index file 10 may also be created “on-the-fly” bya server application (not shown). As an image 6 or name 8 is selected, aserver application may analyze the selected image and create an indexfile 10 for that image in preparation for further image viewing.

During processes of embodiments of the present invention, an index file10 may be downloaded from a web server 2 by a web browser 16 and passedto a client image application 12, such as a JPEG2000 client browser,when a user clicks on an image thumbnail 6 or similar link. An indexfile 10 may contain information about an image, such as a URL orinformation derived from a main header, a tile header, a packet headeror other information. Further details of exemplary index file structureare given below.

In one exemplary embodiment using HTTP/1.1 protocol and images encodedin JPEG2000 format. A client computer 14 running client imageapplication 12 may send a request to a web server 2 using the URLinformation from an index file 10, to stream the lowest resolutionversion of the JPEG2000 image. This request may use the byte-rangesfeature of HTTP/1.1 protocol to obtain only a portion of the JPEG2000bitstream.

The downloaded lowest resolution version of the JPEG2000 image may thenbe decoded and displayed in the JPEG2000 client browser window.

In some embodiments, a user can interactively manipulate the view of theimage using zoom, pan and other controls through an user interface onthe JPEG2000 client browser 16 or a client application 12. Thecorresponding byte-ranges may be found from the image index file 10 andappropriate HTTP requests, corresponding to the manipulated views, maybe sent to the web server. In this exemplary embodiment, a singlerequest may be created to obtain all the relevant parts of thebit-stream corresponding to a region-of-interest selected by a user.This feature may be implemented using the byte-ranges feature of theHTTP/1.1 protocol to obtain only the required portions of the JPEG2000bitstream. This results in a lower delay. Also the resultant response iseasier to parse.

The resultant response from the web server may be decoded and displayedin the JPEG2000 client browser window.

Some embodiments may also employ the built-in caching support inHTTP1.1.

Sample Session

The methods of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may beexplained in reference to FIG. 2. This particular embodiment may utilizeHTTP streaming of a JPEG2000 image as described in reference to anembodiment above. The details and results shown here are those obtainedby using a real web server and a HTTP/1.1 command line client. AHTTP/1.1 compliant Apache server (version 1.3) running on MicrosoftWindows NT 4.0 was used.

Typically, the first step in this process comprises a transmission ofpertinent image data to the client from the web server 20. This maycomprise selection of a thumbnail 6, name 8 or other link that isrelated to an image. As explained above, an index file 10 is compiledand associated with each image. Upon selection of the thumbnail 6, name8 or other link, the index file 10 of the related image may be sent tothe client browser. The following request/response sequence illustratesan example of how this step may be accomplished.

-   1. Get the index file:-   Client (Web Browser) to Server Request:-   GET /index_files/index1.idx HTTP/1.1-   Host: www.host1.com-   CRLF-   Server to Client (Web Browser) Response:-   HTTP/1.1 200 OK-   Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 22:45:48 GMT-   Server: Apache/1.3.12 (Win32)-   Last-Modified: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 22:45:28 GMT-   ETag: “0-56-39665d88”-   Accept-Ranges: bytes-   Content-Length: 86-   Content-Type: text/jpeg2000_index_file-   CRLF-   http://www.imageshost.com/image_files/image1_jpeg2000.jp2-   [main_header_data]..-   [tile-part_header_data]..-   [packet_header_data]..

Once the index file 10 has been retrieved by the client, the file isread to determine the lowest resolution available for the target image22. A minimum resolution above the lowest resolution may be used toensure that the thumbnail has sufficient detail. Optimum data transfertimes are achieved by finding the lowest usable resolution. However,other resolutions below the maximum resolution may be selected as a userpreference when the lowest resolution is not desirable. The index filemay comprise an image URL and available resolution data such as theexample data below.

-   2. The index file has information about the corresponding JPEG2000    image.-   e.g. The image URL is:-   http://www.imageshost.com/image_files/image1_jpeg2000.jp2-   The lowest resolution version is encoded in bytes [120,1068].

Once the thumbnail resolution is determined and the location of the datacorresponding to that resolution is ascertained, the client imageapplication 12 may request transfer of the thumbnail image data. Anexemplary exchange follows.

-   3. Get the lowest resolution JPEG2000 image-   Client (Helper application) to Server Request:-   GET /image_files/image1_jpeg2000.jp2 HTTP/1.1-   Host: www.imageshost.com-   Range: bytes=120-1068-   CRLF-   Server to Client (Helper application) Response-   HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content-   Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 22:38:58 GMT-   Server: Apache/1.3.12 (Win32)-   Last-Modified: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 19:04:01 GMT-   ETag: “0-fffb-396386a1”-   Accept-Ranges: bytes-   Content-Length: 949-   Content-Range: bytes 120-1068/65531-   Content-Type: image/jpeg2000-   CRLF-   [image data bytes 120-1068]

When the thumbnail image data has been transmitted to the client 24, thedata is decoded and displayed on the client display 26 using the clientimage application 12 alone or in conjunction with a typical browserapplication 26. In some embodiments, the thumbnail image will bedisplayed in a window to allow for user manipulation and input 28. Knownpointing device inputs may be used to zoom in and out, pan across theimage, select regions-of-interest and support other functions. Typicalmenus, buttons and similar methods may be used to interface with theapplications. These inputs generally result in requests from the clientapplication 12 and/or browser 16 to send portions of the image bitstreamfrom the server 2 to the client 14. In this manner, a user may selectparticular portions and resolutions of an image for transmission 29thereby avoiding a time-consuming complete transfer of an entire imageat its highest resolution.

For example, a user may interact with the displayed low-resolutionthumbnail image in a JPEG2000 client browser window. This interactionresults in a request to zoom in and pan to the rectangular region withtop left corner at (100, 180) and width and height of 200 and 500respectively. Then, using the index file, if the corresponding bytesneeded from the JPEG2000 bitstream are 120-168, 175-200, 205-300,345-346, 400-500, 555-666, 667-800, 900-1000, 2500-2567, 2890-3056,5678-9000, 10000-12004, 12050-12060, 15600-15605, 17000-17001,17005-17010, 17050-17060, 17800-17905, 20000-20005; a JPEG2000 bitstreamis byte-aligned for the individual independent units. If this were notthe case, the request will still be at the byte granularity and theresponse will be parsed to get rid of irrelevant bits. An early draft ofthe byteranges specification used a media type ofmultipart/x-byteranges. A number of older browsers and servers werecoded to use this, which is not strictly compatible with the HTTP/1.1,however, some embodiments may employ this method. An examplerequest/response sequence between client and server for this stepfollows.

-   Client to Server Request:-   GET /image_files/image1_jpeg2000.jp2 HTTP/1.1-   Host: www.imageshost.com-   Range:    bytes=120-168,175-200,205-300,345-346,400-500,555-666,667-800,900-1000,2500-2567,2890-3056,5678-9000,10000-12004,12050-12060,15600-15605,17000-17001,17005-17010,17050-17060,17800-17905,20000-20005-   CRLF-   Server to Client Response:-   HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content-   Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2000 16:38:35 GMT-   Server: Apache/1.3.12 (Win32)-   Last-Modified: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 19:04:01 GMT-   ETag: “0-fffb-396386a1”-   Accept-Ranges: bytes-   Content-Length: 8350-   Content-Type: multipart/byteranges1; boundary=3986fd0b22d-   CRLF-   CRLF-   --3986fd0b22d-   Content-type: image/jpeg2000-   Content-range: bytes 120-168/65531-   CRLF-   [image data bytes 120-168]-   --3986fd0b22d-   Content-type: image/jpeg2000-   Content-range: bytes 175-200/65531-   CRLF-   [image data bytes 175-200]-   --3986fd0b22d-   . . .-   --3986fd0b22d-   Content-type: image/jpeg2000-   Content-range: bytes 20000-20005/65531-   CRLF-   [image data bytes 20000-20005]-   --3986fd0b22d--

When the manipulated image information has been received by the client,the image data received via thumbnail image input may be decoded anddisplayed 30 for viewing by a user. After inspection of the usercustomized image, a user may further manipulate the thumbnail to furtherchange the resolution or view of the image. This further selection willtypically result in a new request to the server to transmit datarequired to render the newly selected image view. This process of imageselection using the thumbnail image and associated applications may berepeated any number of times until a user has satisfied all interest inthe image.

Image File Specifications

Details of particular embodiments of the present invention are describedwith reference to the JPEG2000 specification. Details of this standardmay be understood by reference to the JPEG2000 Verification Model 7.0(Technical description), ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 1 WG1N1684, April 2000and the JPEG 2000 Part I Final Committee Draft Version 1.0, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 29/WG 1 N1646, March 2000; which are incorporated herein byreference.

In the JPEG2000 standard, an image consists of components. An image maybe spatially divided into tiles and tile-components, where each tile isindependently coded. A tile- component is then divided into resolutionsand sub-bands. A resolution can be partitioned into precincts usingrectangular grids. A sub-band is divided into code-blocks where eachcode-block is an independent coding unit. A precinct may consist of arectangular region of code-blocks in each subband of the sameresolution. The coded data of each code-block can be distributed acrossone or more quality layers in the codestream. The data representing aspecific tile, layer, component, resolution and precinct appears in thecodestream in a contiguous segment called a packet.

In reference to FIG. 3, types of headers in a JPEG2000 codestream 40 maybe explained. The main header 42 is at the beginning of the codestream40. The tile-part headers 44 may be found at the beginning of eachtile-part 46. The main header 42 provides information about theuncompressed image such as width, height, width of a tile, height of atile, number of components, depth of each component, etc. It alsoprovides the coding style default (COD) (e.g., decomposition levels,progression order, number of layers, code-block size, wavelet filterused, packet partition size, etc.), the quantization default (QCD), aswell as some optional information, such as region of interestinformation, packed packet headers (PPM), a list of packet lengths(PLM), the length of every tile-part in the codestream (TLM), etc.

The main header 42 is followed by one or more tile-parts 46 (eachtile-part may comprise a tile-part header 44 and tile-part data 48).Similar information can be included in the tile-part header 44 tooverride the default in the main header 42. The tile-part data 48consists of packets 50. Each packet may further comprise a packet header52. Alternative header formats may also be used. In one alternative,main header 52 may also comprise packet header data or otherinformation.

The lengths of the main header 42 and each tile-part header 44, and thelength of each tile-part 46, can all be easily derived from the mainheader 42 or tile-part headers 44. In addition, the length of eachpacket 50 can be obtained from the main header 42 or derived from thepacket headers 52, which are located either in the main header 42 or inthe codestream 40.

Based on this information and the length of code-block contributioninformation included in each packet header 52, we can identify thelocations/segments of the codestream for a particular code-block,precinct, resolution, component and layer. In fact, an index file can begenerated to record this indexing information by parsing the codestreamheaders, including the main header 42, tile-part headers 44 and packetheaders. This index file can be used to facilitate the retrieval of aparticular portion of the codestream.

For a given tile, the order in which the packets 50 are interleaved iscalled the progression order. The interleaving of the packets 50 canprogress along four axes: layer, component, resolution and precinct.There are five allowable progression orders in the standard which aresignaled by the COD (coding default) and/or POD (progression orderdefault) markers in the main header 42.

-   1. Layer-resolution-component-position progressive-   2. Resolution-layer-component-position progressive-   3. Resolution-position-component-layer progressive-   4. Position-component-resolution-layer progressive-   5. Component-position-resolution-layer progressive

Since a JPEG2000 bitstream is well structured, it is easy to retrieve aportion of the codestream for a particular interest. Some typicalapplications are resolution scalable, quality scalable and region ofinterest streaming. We will discuss how to locate the correspondingportions of the bitstream for these applications below.

Resolution Scalable

It is relatively easy to achieve resolution scalability. If theprogression order follows Order 2 or Order 3, then the data for aparticular resolution will be a contiguous segment 60 in the codestream,as shown in FIG. 5, with the bounding points L_(R0) 62, . . . ,L_(Rnmax) 64, easily identifiable from the index file. If theprogression order follows Order 1, then the data for a particularresolution will be distributed over several separate contiguous segmentsin the codestream, as shown in FIG. 4, with one segment 70 in each layer(e.g., segment (L_(LiR0), L_(LiR1)) for the ith layer), for exampleL_(L0) 72 to L_(L0R1) 74.

Likewise, if the progression order follows Order 4 or 5, then the datafor a particular resolution will again consists of several separatecontiguous segments in the codestream, with one segment in each precinctand each component.

Quality Scalable

Using embodiments of the present invention, it is also relatively easyto achieve quality scalability, especially when the codestream followsthe first progression order, as shown in FIG. 4. For the otherprogression orders, the data for a particular layer is distributed overseveral separate contiguous segments in the codestream. Their locationscan be obtained from the index file.

Region of Interest (ROI) Streaming

It is more involved to achieve region of interest streaming at theclient side. Each image may be divided into geometric regions or tiles.An image may comprise one tile or many tiles depending on theconfiguration selected when the image was created. A region-of-interestmay cross tile boundaries and contain partial tiles within its borders.When partial tiles are needed, each of these arbitrary regions in thespatial domain can be traced to determine how each coefficient and pixelvalue is reconstructed in the inverse wavelet transform. Thecorresponding region in each subband that contributes to thereconstruction of the ROI may then be found and the precincts andcode-blocks that are needed to reconstruct the ROI can then beidentified. The compressed data for these precincts and code-blocks canthen be located and retrieved at the server side for streaming.

For a 1-D case, let x denote a position in the ROI mask for the parentband and let f_p and f_n denote the positive and negative extents of therelevant synthesis filter. Then the point x is influenced by any subbandsamples whose “upsampled” locations are in the range x-f_p to x+f_n. Inmost implementation notation, the low-pass subband samples haveupsampled locations 2n, while the high-pass subband samples haveupsampled locations 2n+1. If the f_p and f_n are computed with respectto this definition of upsampling, then for low-pass subbands, thesubband samples which contribute to x are those in the rangeceil((x−f_p)/2) to floor((x+f_n)/2), while for high-pass subbands, thesamples which contribute to x are those in the range ceil((x−f_p−1)/2)to floor((x+f_n−1)/2).

In many applications, the region of interest will be a rectangular area.In this case, it is easier to trace the corresponding region in eachsubband. Only the upper-left and the lower-right corners of the ROI needto be traced. If the ROI mask in the parent subband covers thecoefficients between upper-left corner (x0, y0) and lower-right corner(x1, y1), then the mask in the new/child subband will cover thecoefficients between (x0′, y0′) and (x1′, y1′), where

-   -   For LL band        X0′=ceil((x0−f _(—) p)/2)        Y0′=ceil((y0−f _(—) p)/2)        X1′=floor((x1+f _(—) n)/2)        y1′=floor((y1+f _(—) n)/2)    -   For LH band        X0′=ceil((x0−f _(—) p)/2)        Y0′=ceil((y0−f _(—) p−1)/2)        X1′=floor((x1+f _(—) n)/2)        y1′=floor((y1+f _(—) n−1)/2)    -   For HL band        X0′=ceil((x0−f _(—) p−1)/2)        Y0′=ceil((y0−f _(—) p)/2)        X1′=floor((x1+f _(—) n−1)/2)        y1′=floor((y1+f _(—) n)/2)    -   For HH band        X0′=ceil((x0−f _(—) p−1)/2)        Y0′=ceil((y0−f _(—) p−1)/2)        X1′=floor((x1+f _(—) n−1)/2)        y1′=floor((y1+f _(—) n−1)/2)

For rectangular ROIs, the identified precincts/code-blocks will alsoform a rectangular region in each resolution/subband. Depending on theprogression order, a row of precincts may occupy a contiguous bitstreamsegment. If some precincts only cover a few code-blocks of interest,then only the data for those code-blocks, instead of the whole precinct,may be retrieved and streamed.

In reference to FIG. 6, for each left boundary 80 of a code-block in aparticular subband, we can identify a vertical line 82 in the spatialdomain that has the property that any pixel located to the right of theline or on the line will not depend on any coefficient located to theleft of the code-block boundary 80 as shown in FIG. 6. For example, ifthe left boundary 80 of a code-block 84 in a precinct 86 is at aposition x, then the corresponding line in its parent subband will be ata position x′ where

-   -   If the code-block is in LL band or LH band        X′=x*2+fp−1    -   If the code-block is in HL or HH band        X′=x*2+fp

These vertical lines 82 will be equally spaced (with an interval twiceas large as the code-block width) except possibly the two immediatelyadjacent to the boundaries of the image where there is an offset basedon the filter length. These vertical lines 82 in the spatial domain thendivide the image into segments 88 so that based on which segment a ROIleft boundary locates, we can conclude which code-block in thatparticular subband will be the left-most that will be needed for thereconstruction of the ROI. Note that for different subbands, thesevertical lines may be located at slightly different places.

Similarly, in reference to FIG. 7, we can segment the image intovertical strips 90 or horizontal strips 92 using left boundaries 94,right boundaries 95, lower boundaries 96, and upper boundaries 97 sothat the right-most, top-most and bottom-most code-blocks needed for thereconstruction of the ROI can be identified. FIG. 7 shows the partitionof the spatial image for the code-blocks in a particular subband.

Typically, the selection of a ROI will not result in boundaries thatcoincide exactly with the vertical and horizontal lines in the spatialdomain which correspond to code-block boundaries. However, ROIboundaries may be matched to these lines by adjusting the boundaries tocoincide with the lines. In particular, a ROI left boundary may bematched to the closest vertical line to its left and then identifiedwith the code block whose left boundary is mapped to this vertical lineas the left-most code block. Similarly, for other boundaries, we canmatch ROI boundaries to code-block boundary lines in the spatial domainby selecting the closest line adjacent to the ROI boundary in adirection away from the center of the ROI.

We can also create a partition of the spatial image for the precincts ofa particular resolution. For this purpose, we only need to look at theboundary code-blocks of a precinct. For the left boundary of a precinctnot in the lowest resolution, we will have three vertical lines in thespatial image, one for each subband in this resolution.

The right-most of these three vertical lines will be used to partitionthe spatial image for the left boundaries of the precincts in thatparticular resolution. Similarly, we can have a partition for the right,upper and lower boundaries of the precincts in a particular resolution.For different resolutions, we generally will have different partitions.

This partition information can be stored in the index file for easierretrieval and streaming of a ROI. Given a rectangular ROI, based on thelocations of the upper-left and lower-right corners in each partition,we can identify the upper-left and lower-right corners of therectangular region of interest of precincts in each resolution, as wellas the upper-left and lower-right corners of the rectangular region ofinterest of code-blocks in each subband. This information will then betranslated into segments of interest of the codestream which will beretrieved using HTTP/1.1 or a similar protocol for the reconstruction ofthe ROI.

Index File Structure

The index files of embodiments of the present invention are intended forfacilitating the retrieval and streaming of the portion of interest ofthe image. An index file may be stored at the server together with theimage file, either as a separate file or, in some embodiments, asmeta-data in the image file, such as in the JPEG2000 file formatportion. An index file can be as simple as a re-structured collection ofall the header information of the codestream. It can also be as complexas including all the spatial domain partition information discussedabove for region of interest streaming. The followings are a fewexamples for the possible structure of index file. The trade-off is theease of computation at the client side vs. the storage requirement atthe server side and the transmission time for the index file.

Simple Index File Example

This embodiment comprises a collection of the header information of thecodestream. These headers may comprise the main header, tile-partheaders, all packet headers, and packet length and tile-part lengthinformation. When this information is not in the main or tile-partheaders, it may need to be calculated by parsing the tile-part headersand packet headers. Note that the codestream has the option of includingpacked packet header and packet length information in the main header ortile-part headers. The codestream also has the option of including tilelength information in the main header. If this is the case, the indexfile may only need to store the main header and the tile-part headers.In some embodiments, the size of the index file may be about 1% of theoriginal codestream.

Intermediate Index File Example

This embodiment may comprise header information and progressivepartition information. In addition to the header information, the indexfile can also store the partition information of each tile-part in termsof their progression axes. For example, if the packets are interleavedin the Resolution-layer-component-position progressive order, then allthe partition points L_(Ri) (for the i′th resolution), L_(RLj) (for thej′th layer within the ith resolution), L_(RLjCk) (for the k′th componentwithin j′th layer and I′th resolution) and L_(RLjCkPl) (for each packet)will also be stored in the index file.

Complex Index File Example

This embodiment may comprise headers, progressive partition informationand spatial domain partition information. A more detailed index file maystore all the spatial domain partition information discussed in thesection for region of interest streaming. These may comprise the spatialdomain partitions for the precincts of each resolution and the spatialdomain partitions for the code-blocks of each subband. For each spatialdomain partition, only the offset of the first horizontal/vertical lineand the constant interval for the rest of the lines need to be stored inthe index file, however other information can be stored. The mappingfrom each spatial segment to a precinct or a code-block may also bestored in the index file.

In general, some of the additional indexing information can either bestored at the server side in the index file, or can be derived at theclient side based on a simpler index file acquired from the server bythe client image application as described above with reference to theoverall protocol.

While many of the described embodiments utilize a HTTP/1.1 protocol tostream JPEG2000 images from a web server, other protocols may also beused in alternative embodiments of the present invention.

Client Image Application

Some embodiments of the present invention comprise a client imageapplication 12 which may be used to perform image customizationfunctions. In reference to FIG. 8, some embodiments of client imageapplication 12 may comprise a browser-like window 100. Window 100 maycomprise drop-down menus 102, a toolbar 104, a status or fileidentification bar 106 and/or other selection devices or informationmethods. Generally, window 100 will comprise a graphics window 110 fordisplay of image files.

When an image file is selected, either manually with an input device orby some other method, a thumbnail version 112 of that image istransmitted to client image application 12 and displayed to a user ingraphics window 110. Thumbnail image 112 is a low-resolution version ofthe actual image that has been selected. The thumbnail image 112 may bedownloaded much more quickly than the actual image at its highestresolution and allows a user to view the thumbnail to ensure that theimage is indeed the desired image and to allow a user to make imagecustomization requests with reference to the thumbnail 112.

Further aspects of embodiments of the present invention may be explainedin reference to FIG. 9. Upon viewing thumbnail 112, a user may concludethat a resolution of 640×480 is adequate for her present needs.Consequently, she may access drop-down menu 108 to select the desiredresolution from a list of available resolutions. Once a selection ismade, the image 114 may be transmitted to the client application 12 anddisplayed in graphics window 110.

If a user desires to see the image at another resolution, the user mayselect the desired resolution from a menu 108 or some other method. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 10, a user may select a higher resolution thanpreviously selected through drop-down menu 108, whereupon clientapplication 12, requests the data needed to render the image at thedesired resolution and displays the higher-resolution image 116 to theuser in graphics window 110.

In another non-limiting example, as shown in FIG. 11, a user may selecta region-of-interest which contains a portion of the image that isdesired to be seen. This feature is very useful in large high-resolutionmedical and cartographic images where a user may wish to zoom in on adetailed local aspect of a large image. A user may select a portion ofthe image for viewing via menus, input device selection on the thumbnailor other methods. In the example illustrated in FIG. 11, a selection ismade using common drag-and-drop selection of a rectangular area 118 thatdefines a region-of-interest on thumbnail 112. When the selection ismade, the client application 12 requests the data associated with thenewly defined region-of-interest at a selected resolution. Only therelevant portions of the image are transferred to the client anddisplayed as image 120 in graphics window 11O. Other regions-of-interestmay be selected upon subsequent user input.

Client imaging application 12 may comprise further image customizationfunctions, for example, quality scalability may be selected andconfigured via menu selection or some other selection technique. Otherfunctions may also be incorporated for image enhancement andmodification.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoingspecification are used therein as terms of description and not oflimitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms andexpressions of excluding equivalence of the features shown and describedor portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the inventionis defined and limited only by the claims which follow.

1. A method for interactive, customized image transmission, said methodcomprising: a. creating an index file corresponding to a JPEG-2000format image, wherein said index file associates, for at least onecustomization characteristic, segments of said JPEG-2000 format imagerequired to construct an image exhibiting said at least onecustomization characteristic, wherein said segments are determined froma main header of said JPEG-2000 format image and at least one of atile-part header and a packet header of said JPEG-2000 format image; b.transmitting said index file to a client, wherein said index fileenables recipient selection, at said client, of a customization of saidJPEG-2000 format image; c. determining a thumbnail resolution for saidJPEG-2000 format image; d. transmitting said JPEG-2000 format image tosaid client at said thumbnail resolution; e. receiving, from a clientimage application, an HTTP request for selected segments of saidJPEG-2000 format image, wherein said selected segments correspond,through associations in said index file, to a recipient selection of acustomization of said JPEG-2000 format image; and f. transmitting saidselected segments of said JPEG-2000 format image to said client, therebyallowing rendering of said recipient-selected customization of saidJPEG-2000 format image on said client without transmission of theentirety of said JPEG-2000 format image.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein said at least one customization characteristic comprises one ofan image resolution, an image quality parameter, and aregion-of-interest.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said client imageapplication comprises a browser.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein saidindex file is comprised within said JPEG-2000 format image.
 5. Themethod of claim 1 wherein said transmitting said index file to saidclient comprises an HTTP protocol.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein saidtransmitting said JPEG-2000 format image to said client at saidthumbnail resolution comprises an HTTP protocol.
 7. The method of claim1 wherein said transmitting said selected segments of said JPEG-2000format image to said client comprises an HTTP protocol.
 8. A method forselective transmission of image files, said method comprising: a.creating an index file corresponding to a JPEG-2000 format image,wherein said index file associates, for at least one customizationcharacteristic, segments of said JPEG-2000 format image required toconstruct an image exhibiting said at least one customizationcharacteristic, wherein said segments are determined from a main headerof said JPEG-2000 format image and at least one of a tile-part headerand a packet header of said JPEG-2000 format image; b. transmitting atleast a portion of said index file to a client, wherein said at least aportion of said index file enables recipient selection, at said client,of a customization of said JPEG-2000 format image; c. determining athumbnail resolution for said JPEG-2000 format image; d. transmittingsaid JPEG-2000 format image to said client at said thumbnail resolution;e. receiving, from a client image application, an HTTP request forselected segments of said JPEG-2000 format image, wherein said selectedsegments correspond, through associations in said index file, to arecipient selection of a customization of said JPEG-2000 format image;and f. transmitting said selected segments of said JPEG-2000 formatimage to said client, thereby allowing rendering of saidrecipient-selected customization of said JPEG-2000 format image on saidclient without transmission of the entirety of said JPEG-2000 formatimage.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein said at least one customizationcharacteristic comprises one of an image resolution, an image qualityparameter, and a region-of-interest.
 10. The method of claim 8 whereinsaid client image application comprises a browser.
 11. The method ofclaim 8 wherein said index file is comprised within said JPEG-2000format image.
 12. The method of claim 8 wherein said transmitting saidat least a portion of said index file to said client comprises an HTTPprotocol.
 13. The method of claim 8 wherein said transmitting saidJPEG-2000 format image to said client at said thumbnail resolutioncomprises an HTTP protocol.
 14. The method of claim 8 wherein saidtransmitting said selected segments of said JPEG-2000 format image tosaid client comprises an HTTP protocol.
 15. A system for interactive,customized image transmission, said system comprising: a. an index filegenerator for creating an index file corresponding to a JPEG-2000 formatimage, wherein said index file associates, for at least onecustomization characteristic, segments of said JPEG-2000 format imagerequired to construct an image exhibiting said at least onecustomization characteristic, wherein said segments are determined froma main header of said JPEG-2000 format image and at least one of atile-part header and a packet header of said JPEG-2000 format image; b.an index file transmitter for transmitting said index file to a client,wherein said index file enables recipient selection, at said client, ofa customization of said JPEG-2000 format image; c. athumbnail-resolution determiner for determining a thumbnail resolutionfor said JPEG-2000 format image; d. an image transmitter fortransmitting said JPEG-2000 format image to said client at saidthumbnail resolution; e. a segment-request receiver for receiving, froma client image application, an HTTP request for selected segments ofsaid JPEG-2000 format image, wherein said selected segments correspond,through associations in said index file, to a recipient selection of acustomization of said JPEG-2000 format image; and f. a segmenttransmitter for transmitting said selected segments of said JPEG-2000format image to said client, thereby allowing rendering of saidrecipient-selected customization of said JPEG-2000 format image on saidclient without transmission of the entirety of said JPEG-2000 formatimage.
 16. The system of claim 15 further comprising a client, whereinsaid client comprises a client image application for selection of saidrecipient-selected customization.
 17. The system of claim 16 whereinsaid client image application comprises a browser.
 18. The system ofclaim 15 wherein said at least one customization characteristiccomprises one of an image resolution, an image quality parameter, and aregion-of-interest.
 19. The system of claim 15 wherein said index fileis comprised within said JPEG-2000 format image.
 20. The system of claim15 wherein said segment transmitter comprises an HTTP protocol.